Introducing LinkedIn Career Advice, a New Way to Help You Find and Connect with Professionals for Mentorship

November 15, 2017

While finding the right job is important, we know it’s only one part of the equation. Mentorship is key for developing and sustaining a satisfying career and improving your professional life, regardless of whether you’re giving or receiving some form of mentorship.

More than 80% of professionals on LinkedIn have stated they either want to have a mentor or be one to others, but knowing where to start can be the trickiest part. In fact, of those who want to have or become a mentor, more than half don’t know where to begin and more than one-third have a hard time finding the right person.

That’s why we’re launching Career Advice, a new feature that helps connect members across the LinkedIn network with one another for lightweight mentorship opportunities. Whether you need advice on your career path, switching to a new industry or best practices for a project you’re working on, Career Advice can help you find and connect with the right person who can help.

To get started, go to the dashboard on your LinkedIn Profile and find the Career Advice hub. From there, enter your preferences for the type of advice you’re looking to give or receive and we’ll recommend members based on what you’ve specified, mutual interests and what we know about you professionally. We’re also exploring ways to specify if you’d like to mentor certain communities, like people facing unique barriers to economic opportunity. When you find a match, you’ll be alerted and you can then send a message to start a conversation about the advice you need.

With more than 530 million professionals in the LinkedIn community, there is no other place where you can access such a wide range of knowledge, skills and resources to help you reach your goals.

We’ve been piloting this feature in a few regions the past couple of months, and some great connections have already been made. Here’s what some of our members are saying:

“During my interaction, [the advisors] gave me ideas and guidance to achieve my goals with respect to exploring new domains in the industry. One of my matches even introduced me to his LinkedIn connections which helped me broaden my network and interact with people who share the same interest in my field.” Karthik Kalyanaraman, Technical Staff, VMware

“[With Career Advice] you’re going to be exposed to these connections that can expose you to worlds you otherwise wouldn’t. It’s powerful.” Tung Nguyen, VP of Engineering, BoltOps

“I owe a lot of my own career success to phenomenal mentors I've had throughout my career in product and as an entrepreneur but have found that many haven't been as fortunate as myself to be able to take advantage of strong mentors. Hoping to give back a bit through this experience. Already had fruitful conversations with folks early in their product role looking for specific career advice.” Sachin Rekhi, Founder & CEO, Notejoy

Career Advice is rolling out now to members in the U.S., U.K., India and Australia, and will be expanding globally in the coming months.